Two people died in Yokohama after a teenage girl’s suicide jump from a shopping center struck a pedestrian below.
In a heartbreaking turn of events, two people have died in the Japanese city of Yokohama after a 17-year-old high school student jumped to her death from a shopping center, striking a pedestrian below.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening around 6:00 PM local time in a crowded shopping district of Yokohama. The teenage girl, a high school student, jumped from a building, hitting a 32-year-old woman who was out with friends. Both were immediately rushed to the hospital, but the girl died an hour later, and the woman soon after.
The reasons behind the girl’s apparent suicide are unclear, but the timing is significant. According to official statistics, more children under the age of 18 in Japan take their own lives on September 1st, just before the start of the new school term, than on any other day. Last year, 513 children died by suicide in Japan, with “school problems” cited as the most common factor.
Students who don’t want to return to school are known as “futoko,” or “people who don’t go to school.” The main reasons these futoko avoid school include family circumstances, personal issues with friends, and bullying, according to a previous survey by the Ministry of Education.
In recent years, authorities and media organisations in Japan have tried to raise public awareness of the challenges students face at this time of year. Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, for example, mounted a campaign on Twitter called “on the night of August 31”.
This latest incident in Yokohama mirrors a similar tragic episode in 2020, when a 17-year-old boy jumped from the roof of a shopping center in Osaka, killing a 19-year-old female student. In that case, the boy was initially charged with manslaughter, but the charge was later dropped.
While Japan’s overall suicide rate is slowly decreasing, the rate among young people continues to rise. Japan is the only G7 country where suicide is the leading cause of death for teenagers, underscoring the urgent need to address the mental health challenges faced by the country’s youth.
Melissa Enoch
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